Samsung's New Phone Won't Launch With Another Glitzy Event, But That Won't Make It A Dud

Last year, Samsung held a splashy Broadway-themed event to
announce its flagship Galaxy S4 smartphone.

Some
called it sexist. Some called it dumb. Some called it a nice
break from the standard mold of tech companies spewing out a new
device's specs and features in a dull, hour-long presentation.

No matter what you thought of that presentation, it sounds like
Samsung is going to tone it down this year when it unveils its
new flagship phone, the Galaxy S5, at a press
event on February 24 at the Mobile World Congress in
Barcelona. The
New York Times reportsthat
the Galaxy S5 event won't be as glitzy as what we saw last year.
(I've heard the same.) The Times also said the phone probably
won't have some previously reported whiz-bang features like an
eye scanner and a very high resolution screen.

But don't let the dour Times report make you think the Galaxy S5
is going to stink.

Last year's Galaxy S4 unveiling left a bad taste in a lot of
people's mouths. And that messaging trickled into some of the
early reviews of the phone when it launched a few weeks later.
Even I
thought the Galaxy S4 was packed with too many confusing
features like eye tracking and touchless gestures to be
appealing. But the Galaxy S4 is still a good phone. Maybe not
the best
phone, but definitely not a dud.

It seems like Samsung has learned its lesson. Last fall, it
launched its Galaxy Note 3 phablet and Galaxy Gear smart watch at
a much more traditional event. The Galaxy
Note 3 got much more positive reviews than the Galaxy S4 did,
even though it does most of the same stuff, just on a bigger
screen. (The Galaxy Gear, unfortunately for Samsung, wasn't the
best product, so reviews
were overwhelmingly unkind.)

That's a good sign for the Galaxy S5. As good as Samsung's
products are, its messaging on launch days has been off. A
toned-down press unveiling that explains clearly what the phone
can do and how it's useful is much more useful than the circus we
saw last year.